My wish is for everybody watching the game today to know that A&M is a huge university, mostly non-military, and that almost half of the stadium you're looking at is filled with current A&M students. I love the Corps - my Dad and my little brother are CTs - but we have one of the... Continue Reading →
Perhaps a friendly recital of my flaws will inspire change
Recently did a quickie personality quiz that seems to be a not-bad "lite" version of Myers Briggs. I've been Myers-Briggsed before more thoroughly, but as with reading a literary work, it seems you get something different out of the experience every time you come at it, depending on where you are in your life at... Continue Reading →
Socrates, “Doonesbury” or Kinky Friedman?
Lately I've been trying to simplify and automate a lot of tasks, and I keep thinking of this quote: "I'm trying to develop a lifestyle that doesn't require my presence." Yes! If everything could keep humming along while I took a week-long nap ... This quote, or a version of it, is attributed all over... Continue Reading →
My desk was in an Angelina Jolie movie
Back in 2007, Michael Winterbottom filmed parts of a movie in and around Austin. The film was "A Mighty Heart," in which Angelina Jolie plays the wife of kidnapped journalist Daniel Pearl, and the Austin American-Statesman co-stars as a Wall Street Journal bureau. Us Statesfolk were reminiscing about this last week, and I thought y'all... Continue Reading →
When your CFL breaks and you don’t have a bunny suit …
[Disclaimer: This is NOT official medical, legal or any-other-al advice and I'm not any kind of expert. See full disclaimer below.] What to do when a compact fluorescent bulb breaks? CFLs contain mercury and other bad stuff, and I'd heard everything from "It's no big deal" to "Evacuate and quarantine immediately!" When one fell out... Continue Reading →
This is not a rebel song. This is a rebel song
Here is U2 launching into the song they believed might actually spark violence if it were misunderstood: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYnnmQ9x5tQ And here is a John Wayne movie's anachronistic but stirring delivery of an actual rebel song: http://youtu.be/MGiDiMXLbWI Back in the heyday of MTV, when I was a budding little pre-teen U2 fan, I heard Bono say something... Continue Reading →
Gaslighting: ‘You’re just too sensitive.’
Thanks to the website Jezebel.com, which I highly recommend unless you dislike occasional comic vulgarity, twice recently I've come across the term "gaslighting." In reading up on it, I've decided that it's a term that should be known to everybody who's ever heard, and everybody who's ever said, "You're too sensitive. You're overreacting. You're just... Continue Reading →
Near future: Taking a photo with your fingers
This whole talk is great, but at 6:24 you'll see the holy-schnapps moment: Taking a photo with your fingers. http://youtu.be/YrtANPtnhyg?t=6m24s That's Pranav Mistry in 2009 explaining how his invention "sees" your gestures through a camera and uses a little LED projector to give you a "screen" to work on. Because the talk is two years... Continue Reading →
Howl at the moon, shoot out the light
Had another wonderful evening at Gruene Hall last night. Stepped out on the street just to get the view my crazy talented friend Bill Harrison captured here. (Well I was a bit more vertical maybe.) The hall was built in 1878 and has a rich history. The original sign over the bar read "Den feinsten... Continue Reading →
A nerd walks into a 2,000-year-old bar
Sometimes I really can't believe I was here. A couple thousand years ago, if you wanted to meet up with a friend in Ostia, you could say, "I'll meet you at that bar, you know, the one on Diana Street just off Main." They have bar food, too, and a beer garden out back --... Continue Reading →
